


I Know Who I Want To Take Me Home

by KSven (KarateSven)



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, You'll see what I mean, a strap on also makes some appearances but its mostly for comedic purposes, lex also makes an appearance but instead of being a bastard man hes more of a disaster, the fic based on the romcom from 2011, the superfriends also make appearances, you want idiots to lovers? ill give you idiots to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:47:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29096763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarateSven/pseuds/KSven
Summary: Kara watches as Lena bends over again to throw away the empty take out boxes and she very suddenly blurts out the first thought that pops into her head.“Lena? Let’s play tennis.”“What?”“Let’s have sex like we’re playing tennis.”ORThe supercorp fic based on the hit 2011 romcom Friends with Benefits.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 19
Kudos: 218





	1. Girls Fall Like Dominoes

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first supercorp fic and honestly? Kind of nervous about posting it. But like the internet says, if I want to see my extremely niche fantasies about these two come to life then I simply must do it myself.
> 
> Anywho, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Chapter title is taken from the song Dominoes by The Big Pink

“Hey!” Kara dodged past a guy chatting on his phone and skidded to a stop in front of the venue. From inside she can hear the low strums of a bass guitar and the crooning voice of the nights’ headliner. “I’m here. I’m sorry, I’m here.”

Earlier that afternoon Kara had promised Siobhan that she would be on time to the concert. She had been reminded that Siobhan bought the tickets to see John Mayer in December no less than five times that day, but the odds were against her. She had to stay back because her team needed another person for the “Meet the reptiles of the Metropolis Zoo” video that was going to be posted on the blog’s YouTube channel, which was in addition to a piece on immigration that she had to finish editing. 

And to top it all off; a particularly unruly iguana had decided to pee on her innocent khakis and she had to borrow a pair of her coworkers’ jeans that were both too short and too tight. Her day had been chaotic, and now she had the feeling it was about to get even worse.

Siobhan stares her down, arms crossed, looking extremely pissed off. “We missed _Your Body is a Wonderland._ ” 

“Okay- um- that’s only- that’s only one song.” Kara says, looking for the silver lining in all this. Its’ never led her astray before so maybe, just maybe, it’ll placate Siobhan.

“ _It was fucking Your Body is Wonderland!_ ” Siobhan snaps, staring Kara down with wide eyes. 

So much for the silver lining.

“Well,” Kara scratches the back of her neck, casting her gaze around the street for something, anything, to help her right now. The parked cars and lit streetlamps offer her nothing. “The- the good news is, he has so many good ones!”

She tries not to wince at how weak those words sound to her own ears. Siobhan hears it too, and her eyes narrow as she uncrosses her arms and props them on her hips. She cocks her head to the side, and Kara resigns herself to the chewing out she’s about to get.

“Here’s an idea,” Siobhan says, “next time, instead of being late, just shit on my face.” Kara grimaces but Siobhan keeps going, “Cause that’s kind of the same thing as missing _Your Body is Wonderland._ ”

Kara sighs, tipping her head back to look up at the starless night sky before tilting her face back down to Siobhan’s pissed off expression. “Look, Siobhan I’m sor-”

“I think we should take a break.” The words are so abrupt, and said so casually, that Kara doesn’t register them for a couple seconds. She only manages to understand what’s happening when Siobhan gives her an expectant look and her body unfreezes.

“Wait are- are you breaking up with me?” She asks incredulously. Siobhan gives her an annoyed look as she crosses her arms again while Kara fumbles for a response. I mean sure, they haven’t been “on the same page” for a while now but she didn’t expect to get dumped tonight. 

Especially right before this stupid John Mayer concert.

“Siobhan I was tied up at work, I had a deadline!” Kara defends. Sure, it would’ve been nice to get here on time but she couldn’t just abandon work in favor of some early 2000s indie musician. Siobhan, of course, wasn’t interested.

“Maybe I wanted you to care a little bit less about work, and more about me.” She says leaning forward right into her space, “you know. _The girl you’re dating._ ” Her voice practically dripping with sarcasm. “Or maybe you should find someone else to reassure you that being scared of the dark isn’t a problem _only a four-year old should have!_ ”

Kara bristles, “I told you I don’t mind darkness I just- I need a little light just to break through the shadows- I mean-” Siobhan rolls her eyes and Kara cuts herself off with a huff. “You know what? I guess that’s not your problem anymore.” She tries not to let herself sound completely bitter. She fails.

“Listen,” Siobhan’s voice changes, to the soft one she uses whenever she’s trying to convince Kara of her asinine music opinions. “I just think we’re going in different directions.” She blinks prettily at Kara, “me? I’m heading to the John Mayer concert and you-” she breaks off and tries (and fails) to look sympathetic “-somewhere else.”

Okay. Ouch.

“Oh yeah, thanks so much for doing this right before the John I-dated-eighteen-year-old-Taylor-Swift-and-tried-to-look-like-the-victim Mayer’s concert.” Kara says rolling her eyes, “best breakup ever.”

Siobhan’s shoulders tense, and her faces twists in outrage. Kara can see her fists balling at her sides and by the time she opens her mouth, Siobhan is practically vibrating with John-Mayer-related indignation. _“He is the Sheryl Crow of our generation!”_

Kara tips her head back and groans as people walk past them, witnessing probably the most embarrassing breakup Kara’s experienced in her twenty-nine years of living. She’s had her fair share of embarrassing moments in her life, many of them witnessed by her sister, and never takes it personally. But getting dumped right before a freaking John Mayer concert by her girlfriend of three months? Something about the whole situation stung. 

At least her sister would be happy: Alex hated Siobhan.

Siobhan takes a deep, calming breath and unclenches her fists. “Kara it’s not you,” she fixes Kara with another faux sympathetic look, one that’s really starting to get on Kara’s nerves and says: “it’s me.” 

Kara’s mouth drops open at the sheer audacity. “What the- of course it’s me!” She says throwing her hands up in exasperation, “you’re the one breaking up with me!”

“No, no no.” Siobhan says holding out a hand, “It’s really me. You see the problem is that I just- I just don’t like you anymore.” 

Ouch. Again.

“You see, you can’t talk about your problems or your emotions like an adult.” Siobhan fixes her with a look, “you’re basically emotionally constipated and that’s kinda unsexy if you ask me.”

Kara closes her eyes, prays for patience, “I didn’t.”

“Listen Kara you’re great.” Siobhan simpers, a commiserating smile on her face, “and I hope we can stay friends.”

Kara takes a deep breath, and smiles tightly, “Sure.” She knows well enough that Siobhan is never going to text her again and honestly? She’s okay with it. There’s a takeout box of truffle mac and cheese sitting in her fridge that she can drown her sorrows in anyways. Screw John Mayer.

Siobhan smiles at her again before turning on her heel, and sprinting back to the theatre entrance. Her hands are clenched into fists over her head as she shouts “John fucking Mayer!” and disappears inside. Kara watches the door close behind her before letting out another groan, and shuffling home.

//

Lena digs into her gelato, trying not to look completely put out but probably failing spectacularly. 

When she had called Sam twenty minutes ago and told her that Veronica had dumped her, her (very kind) friend had hopped in her car, drove downtown, and bought Lena a frozen treat to cheer her up. It was only working a little bit, but Lena appreciated the effort. 

“I mean,” Lena scooped another spoonful of gelato into her mouth, “it’s not like I thought Veronica was _the one_ but-” she sighs, “I at least thought she liked me.”

“Oh honey,” Sam says, reaching out and rubbing her arm gently. “I don’t know if Veronica likes _anybody._ ”

“That makes me feel so much better.” Lena deadpans and she sees Sam wince. Veronica hadn’t exactly been the most amazing girlfriend so-to-speak, but they had been dating for a month now and Lena had thought things were getting serious. Veronica went out of her way to take Lena on expensive trips and give her exorbitant gifts or send her massive bouquets of flowers. Lena thought that that was romantic, that Veronica wanted to build something with her, that she was _invested._ Turns out it was all bullshit. 

“Okay walk me through what she said again.”

“‘Lena, baby, you love to act all cold and unaffected but you really just want some charmer to sweep you off your feet and I’m just not like that. Plus, you’re really emotionally damaged, and your eyes are really intense and it kind of freaks me out.’” Lena mimics, sounding like Veronica exactly. It still hurts hearing it a second time, especially from her own mouth.

Sam blinks at her in shock, “oh my god what a bitch.”

Lena huffs out a humorless laugh, as Sam begins to list off Veronica’s worst traits in alphabetical order. If she’s being honest with herself, Lena probably should have broken things off with Veronica two weeks ago when, after having sex at a Bed and Breakfast, Lena had leaned over and said ‘I think I love you.’ Veronica, ever the charmer, had simply blinked, patted her arm, and said ‘oh that’s so cute’ and fell asleep not too long after.

“And her clothes are ugly as shit too.” Sam says vehemently, glaring off into the street like she’s willing Veronica to appear so that she can physically fight her on Lena’s behalf.

“She wears designer clothes,” Lena sighs morosely, “half her closet is Christian Dior.”

“Well then Christian Dior makes ugly clothes.” Sam loops her arm through Lenas, “you look better in slacks anyways.” 

Lena smiles weakly, knowing full well that it doesn’t meet her eyes. Veronica wasn’t the first ex of hers to end things because of her “emotional damage.” Several unremarkable boys had said similar things to her in high school, then there was Dick Grayson towards the end of undergraduate years who had dumped her too. Then Mercy Graves at MIT who also dumped her, while she was in the middle of writing her thesis. Then there was Clarissa, who she had really liked, before she handed her back her apartment key and gave Lena the ‘it’s not you it’s me’ spiel. Now she gets to add Veronica to her list of relationships that ended with a terrible little fizzle.

Her love life was like a Shakespearian tragedy.

“God,” Lena sucks in a harsh breath, “why is it so fucking hard to find someone who will just _like_ me.” Lena gets the sudden and intense urge to hurl her gelato somewhere in the road but, that would mean relinquishing the frozen dairy treat. The frozen dairy treat that Sam had very nicely waited in line to get her, so she refrains. For now. Instead she just glares at it in frustration. “Maybe I just need to stop buying into this ‘Fairy Tale Happy Ending’ bullshit that Hollywood keeps trying to shove down my throat.”

Sam hums, and spoons another bite of raspberry swirl into her mouth. “Yeah those romcoms are unrealistic anyways.”

“I’m just gonna shut down emotionally,” Lena says, and she can hear Sam groan into her own gelato. “Like George Clooney.”

“But George Clooney is married.”

“Just go with it Sam.”

//

“Wait, she dumped you at a John Mayer concert?” Kara hears from the other end of the phone and hums in acknowledgement. As soon as she got back to her apartment she put on her comfiest clothes, popped her leftovers into the microwave, and proceeded to catch up on _The Mandalorian_ like she had planned. Only now she was doing it without Siobhan beside her, which stung, but at least she could sprawl out on her couch.

“Yes. My life is a joke.” Kara sighs, pulling the hood of her sweatshirt up over her head in embarrassment. Logically, she knew that Alex couldn’t see her face but the action was comforting all the same.

“Well good riddance.” Alex sighs, and Kara can hear the relieved smile that she’s probably sporting around the house right now. “I always thought you were too good for her.”

Kara rolls onto her side, and flips through the various streaming services on her Tivo and makes a note to change the password to the Disney+ account. Now that Siobhan isn’t her girlfriend she’s lost her girlfriend privileges. “You think that about everyone I date.” Kara sounds pathetic even to her own ears, but she’s feeling too tired and petulant to really care right now. “Why do relationships start out so fun, and then turn into suck-a-bag-of-dicks.”

Kara hears familiar laughter on the other end of the phone and sighs. At least Kelly thinks her unfortunate love life is funny. 

“Sorry Kara,” Kelly joins in on the call then, “but if it’s any consolation I think this is a good thing.”

“You think me getting dumped at a John Mayer concert is a good thing?”

“No,” Kelly says kindly, “I’m saying what Alex is saying. Siobhan never seemed like the right match for you.”

“Aw thanks babe.” Alex simpers and Kara hears shuffling on the other end, which is probably her sister kissing her nice, beautiful wife, and Kara groans. She would never begrudge her sister her happiness, but _some_ people are newly single and trying to cope here, thank-you-very-much.

“Maybe no one is a match for me.” Kara groans, and then cringes at her own wording. “You know what? I’m just not gonna do love-y things for a while.” As soon as she says it, her mind latches onto the new idea like a moth to flame. Why put all this thought and work into a relationship that the other person was just gonna abandon once you were late to one concert? To Kara it seemed like a waste of time really. Especially now, girlfriend-less and finished with her double portion of mac and cheese.

“I’m just gonna work and have sex,” she sits up, self-assuredness bleeding into her tone. “Like George Clooney.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Kelly says at the same time Alex asks “why use George Clooney as your example?” and Kara rolls her eyes.

“No this makes sense.” Kara’s definitely got the right idea now; the people who do their jobs, go out with friends, and only see people for noncommittal sex have the right idea. “I’m gonna be the new Samantha Jones.”

“Um, Kara I don’t think-” Kelly starts, but Alex makes a noise on the line and whispers something to Kelly and all Kara can make out is the usage of the word ‘stubborn’ before Kelly laughs. Kara listens to her sister and sister-in-law talk quietly for another two seconds before Kelly excuses herself to put Jeremiah to bed. 

There’s a brief lull in the conversation as Kara tunes into the Great British Bakeoff. “You know Kara…” Alex’s starts, and Kara immediately perks up at the sound. “You could always come back to National City…”

“Alex,” Kara sighs, “I have a job here.”

“Yeah but you don’t like Metropolis that much.” Alex says, “plus I bet with your history, you could get a job writing or art directing for any news company in the city!”

Kara sighs in annoyance, but truth be told, Alex had a point. She didn’t like Metropolis, and besides her cousin and her job, she can’t really think of any other reasons to stick around. She had gone to college at National City University to get her degree in journalism, and years later she still thinks of her memories of the city fondly. 

She even has an opportunity lined up; days ago, she received an email from a headhunter trying to get her to come back to National City for an interview. The sender was a woman Kara had never met before, but with a very recognizable name: Lena Luthor. She was the headhunter hired by CatCo to recruit Kara and bring her back to the west coast. Her email spoke about an interview in two weeks in National City, all expenses paid, that Lena would be escorting her too.

It was enticing, but every time she read the subject line she would hesitate on the reply button, hovering uncertainly. She was good at her job here in Metropolis; it was safe, easy, and she knew everyone in her office already. She knew National City, but it was bound to be different now when compared to when she lived there. Right now, she didn’t see much of a point in moving back (aside from being close to her family and her mom’s brisket). She had a pretty good gig here working as art director for Kelex already.

But if Kara was being really honest with herself, she was scared. Going from a small internet blog to a media company that was known worldwide was a huge step, and she didn’t know if she was ready for that. She knew she was talented, but massive-multi-million-dollar-company talented? She wasn’t so sure.

“I’ll think about it.” Kara says, and Alex lets out a small yes of victory on the other end of the line that makes Kara laugh. “I actually have someone trying to recruit me for a job at CatCo right now.”

“Oh really?” Alex sounds very interested, “I don’t know what that entails but you should absolutely take the job. I miss you _and_ ” she pauses for dramatic effect, “Jeremiah has gotten into magic and he wants to share his new skills with you.”

Kara snorts, just imagining Jeremiahs little hands trying to pull a stuffed rabbit out of a hat. “Do you think you we have a new David Copperfield on our hands?”

“Oh, dear god I hope not.” Alex says, “we already have our hands full trying to keep him from setting the table napkins on fire. He actually might give Kelly a heart attack.”

“Good thing you’re a cardiologist then.” Kara laughs and she hears Alex’s answering chuckle on the other end. Not long after Alex hangs up, citing that she has to be around to give Jeremiah a good night kiss before bed. Kara sets her phone down on the coffee table and flips open her laptop to look at her email again.

Kara had always liked CatCo; it had a propensity for publishing articles more concerned with fashion and reality tv but also had a budding journalism sector that focused on political and scientific research that Kara liked. Kara had done an internship for CatCo the summer after her junior year of college and worked directly under Cat Grant. Sure, most of what she had done was field Cat’s appointments, get her coffee, and listen to her boss call her “Keira”, but she had loved it. Something about the atmosphere of the place coupled with the feeling of being in National City had turned it into a really nice summer.

Kara reread Lena’s email again, making sure to actually scan the paragraphs and not skim them. Ms. Luthor is both very professional and very thorough; she includes all the information Kara could possibly need and even answers the questions she hasn’t even thought of yet. Kara scratches the back of her head; just going on the trip and doing the interview wouldn’t hurt, right? She had a pretty good gig at Kelex but…

Running through her conversation with Alex again, Kara typed up a response to Ms. Luthor and agreed to the interview. She could head back to National City for a few days. It’s not like she was going to meet the love of her life there anyways.

//

Lena brushes past a at least five drivers before she finds a spot where she has a clear view of the exit doors. 

Lena left her apartment late so she had to do her makeup on the car ride over to the airport. Being a headhunter was never her ambition in life, but she was very good at it. Getting people to open up to her and doing her research came naturally to her, and it’s made her very savvy at talking to people. Which was probably why Cat Grant had personally hired her to convince Kara Danvers to leave Kelex in favor of CatCo.

Kara Danvers was an interesting person to say the least. Lena had spent months looking into her life and was confident that she had enough ammo to get Kara Danvers to join the CatCo team. For starters, Kara was already from the West Coast, and had grown up hours away from National City before going to college at NCU. Second, she had already worked for Cat Grant before and already had an idea of what working at CatCo was going to look like, which would make her adjustment period shorter. Those were Lena’s main talking points, and after basically stalking Kara on social media, Lena felt she was extremely prepared to make her pitch to Kara once she stepped through the doors. 

At that very moment, Lena caught sight of a blonde head appearing and zeroed in on the sight of her charge. And as soon as they locked eyes she felt her heart do a strange stutter-stop. She had seen pictures of Kara Danvers of course, (you don’t do extensive research on a person without staring at a couple pictures of their face online), but Facebook simply didn’t do Kara Danvers justice.

For one, Kara Danvers was _incredibly_ good looking. As she stepped through the doors leading out of the terminal, Lena took a second to really take in her appearance. Kara had wavy blonde hair that hung over her broad shoulders, framing her soft jawline and the bluest eyes Lena had ever seen sitting behind a pair of black glasses. (She also had the most kissable lips Lena had ever seen, but that's neither here nor there) She was dressed simply but nicely; with a pair of blue slacks and a matching blazer over a white button down. Kara had only a black messenger bag and a small rolling carry on with her, and as the blonde looked around in confusion Lena squared her shoulders and walked over to her.

“Kara Danvers?” Lena asked, painting on a friendly smile. The blonde blinked at her in shock for a second before remembering herself and shaking her head as if to clear it.

“Uh yeah that’s me.” And _oh_ , Lena likes her voice too, light and a little throaty. “And you are? -”

“Lena Luthor.” Lena holds out her hand and Kara takes it in a firm shake. Lena tries not to notice how warm and calloused her fingers are.

“Ah Miss Headhunter herself.” Kara’s smile was friendly and a little teasing. 

“Personally, I prefer the term ‘Executive Recruiter’ since ‘Headhunter’ sounds like the name of a comic book villain,” she shrugs “and also a little creepy.”

“Well you did basically stalk me for six months,” Kara says lightly. “Kinda creepy.”

Lena laughs, surprised that the sound is genuine before motioning for Kara to follow her out of the airport and into the garage where the car was waiting but not before grabbing Kara’s bag from her and rolling it herself to the black escalade idling near the passenger pickup. 

“You know you don’t need to do that.” Kara says in amused voice.

“Nonsense,” Lena grins, “I’m trying to change your life, and getting your things,” she says motioning at the silver bag, “is the least I can do as a good host.”

Kara cocks her head to the side, “you know, my life is pretty great already.”

Lena hums, and squints at Kara “well if your life is ‘pretty great already’ then why are you here?” She asks it with a bit of a sarcastic edge to her voice. There’s a split second where Kara goes quiet and she thinks she’s missed the mark before the blonde laughs.

“Touché.” She says, eyes twinkling. “Buuut I also get a free trip to National City out of this. I’d be pretty dumb to turn it down.”

“Well then I guess it’s good that you’re here now, right?” Lena says, and the two of them smile as they lock eyes. The car is right in front of them now and the driver jumps out of the front and politely takes Kara’s bag and stows it in the trunk while Lena and Kara climb into the back seat.

Right away Lena notices that Kara is nervous. Her eyes are trained out the windows as they pull out of the traffic laden airport and her leg bounces the closer they get to downtown. Lena smoothes out the miniscule wrinkles in her skirt and crosses her legs; she has about an hour to calm Kara’s nerves and get her ready for the interview at CatCo and she has her pitch all ready to go when Kara speaks.

“Was National City always this crowded?” Kara fidgets again, her gaze briefly drifting to Lena before staring out the car window again. “It seemed there were way more open spaces when I was in college.”

Lena raises an eyebrow at the blonde, “what are you? A gazelle?” Kara turns toward her in surprise and Lena shrugs, “They like open spaces. Are you nervous?”

Kara snorts, “oh, definitely.” She fidgets again, playing with her fingers in her lap, “I would be going from a small-time blog to one of the biggest media companies in the country.”

“But you’ve worked for them before.” Lena supplies and Kara shrugs in response.

“Yeah as an _intern._ They want to make me Art Director, when all ive been doing is running Kelex for a couple years.” Kara slumps against the leather of the car seat and finally turns to look Lena in the eye, “I just don’t wanna be the girl who screws it all up.”

“Then don’t screw it all up.” Lena says simply, and Kara blinks in surprise at her. “Instead make it _legendary._ ” Kara’s face turns skeptical and Lena turns as much as she can in the car seat, “I’ve seen the work you do at Kelex, Kara. Before Clark hired you, Kelex was chock full of annoying ads that did nothing to help the sites’ traffic, on top of running bullshit stories- some of which didn’t have any sources or editing to speak of. You turned it into a site that people actually want to tune in to, on top of being a wonderful writer.” Kara blushes at the compliment and a small part of Lena finds it extremely endearing. “You can do this job, and you can do it well, because if you couldn’t? I wouldn’t have been asked to recruit you.”

Kara still looks skeptical so Lena switches tactics, “Look, we’ve got some time. So, why don’t we grab some coffee or whatever it is you drink, to get you ready for the interview.” Lena meets Kara’s nervous blue eyes and, without consciously thinking to do it, grabs her hand and squeezes it in encouragement. “You’re going to be fine, Kara.”

Kara glances down at their joined hands and Lena fights the inexplicable urge to blush. She can see the blonde visibly relax and when Kara looks up again, her eyes are significantly calmer.

“Okay then.” She says as another smile lighting up her face, “let’s do it.”

//

Lena soon realizes that ‘what Kara likes to drink’ some tall sugary monstrosity covered in whipped cream. Lena takes her drink and, when her eyes fall on the milkshake-pretending-to-be-coffee in Kara’s hands, she shudders. 

“I think that much sugar would put me in a coma.” Lena says staring at the drink in Kara’s large hand.

“You should try it,” the blonde says grinning, “Frappuccino’s are good on their own but they’re _especially_ good with extra chocolate.” 

Lena shudders again, “I’ll just take your word for it, thanks.” After their brief trip to Starbucks, Kara and Lena decided to walk to the CatCo office building, chatting the entire time. Lena learned that Kara loved most food but disliked kale, used to own a black cat named Streaky, and had spent a significant amount of time in high school doing musical theatre. So, in the spirit of sharing Lena had told her that she was allergic to apples and bees, had travelled to every country in Europe except Latvia, and was raised in a mansion on the East Coast.

“What, like-” Kara takes another sip of her not-coffee before continuing, “like one of those big houses in Connecticut?”

“Exactly.” Lena nods, “it was massive, and I’m pretty sure it was also haunted.”

“That seems to be a theme in big old houses.” Kara’s still smiling, and seems much more relaxed then when she was in the car, which Lena counts as a win. In her personal opinion, Kara Danvers seems like an exceptionally kind, and attentive person. The entire time they talked, Lena felt that Kara was paying just as much attention to her as she was to the blonde; which was strange to her, since the people she usually met with weren’t so concerned with the personal history of the headhunter trying to recruit them. But Kara kept the conversation flowing, asking her questions about her life without prying or being nosy. Lena was on the job, but Kara was nice to talk too.

Of course, it was at that very moment they walked up to the front of the CatCo building, with ten minutes to spare. 

“Well here we are.” Lena says, motioning to the glass doors leading inside. Surprisingly, Kara lingers.

“You know I still might not take the job.” She says, looking at Lena earnestly.

Lena concedes the point with a nod of her head, “that’s fair.” She says, “but at the very least, make sure to make me look good during your interview?” She’s joking when she says it, but Kara gives her another genuine smile and then _winks_ at her.

“Oh, don’t worry.” She says, backing up toward the doors. “I’ll make sure Cat Grant knows how cool you are.” Then in the dorkiest display she’s ever seen, Kara points some finger guns at her before strolling inside, sugar concoction in hand.

Lena looks around and then glances down at her watch; she basically has the whole day to kill before Kara is done, so she decides to head home and catch up on some reading before coming back to pick Kara up later. As she wanders off Lena thinks again about the blonde who’s probably making her way up to the 54th floor right now, and finds herself smiling.

//

Kara spends the rest of the morning, afternoon, and early evening at CatCo before finally shaking hands and leaving out the front door.

Cat hadn’t conducted the interview herself, that fell under the purview of Snapper Carr, the senior media director for CatCo. He had been grumpy and a little standoffish but he was also impressed with her work at Kelex. He had taken a look at all her previous projects and cited a letter of recommendation from her cousin Clark that was basically chock full of anecdotes about how talented she was. It took a lot of effort for Kara not to blush at that.

After the interview, Snapper had handed her off to James Olsen to take her on a tour of the company. Kara had known James for years; he was Kelly’s younger brother, and he was also good friends with Clark. They had briefly dated her freshman year of college before their romance fizzled out and they decided they worked better as friends. So, when he was the one chosen to take her around the building he had been excited just to have her around. Then, at the very end of the day, she had run into Cat Grant, who was exiting the building with her usual flair.

She had given Kara a brief once over, a small a nod of approval, and then sauntered off, throwing a “Nice to see you again Keira.” Over her shoulder before disappearing through the elevator doors.

All in all, it had actually been a good interview.

Though if Kara was being honest with herself, without Lena she probably wouldn’t have been nearly as interested in the job as before. When she had gotten off the plane that morning she was nervous, and didn’t really want to go through with the interview, but then she had spotted Lena and her brain had abruptly shut down like a Windows PC. 

Lena was, in a word, striking. She was beautiful; with her dark hair pinned into a crisp bun, a sharp jawline, and vibrant green-gray eyes that Kara found herself caught in more than once. That, coupled with the elegant skirt-and-silk-blouse combo, made her the most alluring person in the airport, possibly in the entirety of National City. In the short time she knew Kara, she had managed to soothe her nerves and get her excited about the job all in the span of an hour. It was actually kind of surprising, how easily Lena had calmed her down. But Kara assumed that Lena’s part of the job was over, that she had gone home to decompress. 

So, when Kara spotted her sitting on a bench, reading a copy of _Pet Sematary,_ she was surprised.

“Lena?” the brunette jerked her head up, and Kara’s gaze locked on the same striking green eyes that left her momentarily tongue tied. “You’re uh-” Kara cleared her throat, “you’re still here?”

“Of course.” Lena said, her red lips curving into a small smile as she stowed her book in her purse. “This is my job after all.”

_Think of something smooth to say,_ Kara’s brain helpfully supplied and when she opened her mouth all that came out was, “cool.” 

Nice Danvers. Incredible work there.

Lena’s smile brightens just a little and she bites her lip, probably to stop herself from laughing at Kara’s inability to put words together, before fixing her with a curious look. “So, how did it go?”

Kara answers Lena’s smile with her own and puts her hands in her pockets. “I think it went well.” She says, “I made sure to sing your praises too, which has to count for something, right?”

Lena grins, showing off a pair of (very endearing) dimples and says, “Well thank you Kara, I really appreciate it.” At that moment, Lena pulls out her phone, types something into the device, and then stows it in her purse.

Kara is seconds away from asking her what’s up before she hears the familiar ping of her email getting a new message. She pulls out her own phone, pulls up her gmail, and opens the new message that Lena forwarded to her. She takes a second to skim the first two paragraphs before her eyes widen in recognition at what she’s being offered.

“Oh wow,” Kara says, actually taking the time to read over the email this time, her eyes widening the more she reads. “I got it?”

“They called me about five minutes ago.” Lena’s eyes are amused as she continues, “Congratulations! The offer expires at midnight.”

“I-” Kara starts, “oh wow.” She slides her phone back into her pocket and casts her gaze around, not really knowing what to focus on. She feels the same trepidation from this morning; she put a lot of work into Kelex and she likes her job, and while CatCo was offering a better position and a much larger salary she really didn’t know if she was good enough for this job. The prospect seemed incredibly daunting.

“Kara listen to me.” Lena reaches out and places her hand on Kara’s forearm, and Kara feels the warmth of her grip through her blazer. “I told you before: your work is amazing and you’re more than qualified for this job.”

“It’s a big move.” Kara finds herself saying, “would you uproot your entire life for a job?”

Lena withdraws her hand and crosses her arms over her chest. “For a job? No, I wouldn’t.” Lena says honestly, and Kara waits for her to finish. “But National City? I have and would do it again. 

“Which is why I’m not going to try and sell you on the job.” Her lips curve into secretive smile and Kara knows that she’s been caught in Lena Luthors’ orbit. “I’m going to sell you on National City.”

Despite how pretty of a picture Lena is starting to paint, Kara can’t give up the goat that easily. She’s lived in Metropolis for close to ten years, she can’t just drop it that easily. Not only that, but Kara can’t bring herself to stop looking at Lena, so she figures that if she goes along with what the brunette wants, she can spend more time with her. 

“But I’ve already lived here, remember?” Kara finds herself matching Lena’s mischievous grin, “I already know National City’s secrets.”

“But you haven’t lived here in a couple years.” Lena takes a step closer then, and Kara watches her approach. “So, I’m going to show you all the wonderful things you’ve been missing out on.” She deliberately tilts her head back, finding Kara’s gaze, and Kara is once again caught by seafoam green eyes. Lena gazes up at her imploringly, a hint of a pout turning her lips down at the corners, and Kara knows she’s lost.

“That look is totally unfair.” She groans, and Lena’s dimpled grin of victory is totally worth it.

Lena jerks her head towards to the side, still smiling with that same cat-that-caught-the-canary look. “Well then let’s go get a drink,” she says, “so you can re-experience all that National City has to offer.”

//

Lena sits her down in her black Cadillac and drives her to Glendale, where they find themselves sitting across from each other at an open bar that looks out onto the National River.

“So,” Lena says clasping her hands together, “you supposedly have the perfect life back in Metropolis. And if that’s the case, then again I ask you: why come back to National City?”

Kara shrugs, “I don’t know, to explore my options? Who wouldn’t want to explore their options?” 

“Someone in the perfect situation.” Lena says without pause, and once again Kara is struck by how good at her job this woman is.

“Are you in the perfect situation?” Kara asks, taking a sip of her beer.

“Job wise? My life is perfect.” Lena takes a dainty sip of her club soda, “everything else though? Well,” she locks eyes with Kara again, her smile a little sad, “that’s not really any of your business, now is it?”

“Fair enough,” Kara chuckles, and Lena brightens enough to laugh with her. It’s at that exact moment that a woman with long caramel hair in a velvet black dress walks by their table and Lena perks up.

“Andrea!” The woman in question turns, and brightens at seeing Lena. The two hug like old friends, and Kara feels the small inexplicable twinge of annoyance under her ribs. Then, as Kara gets a good look at Andrea’s face, she realizes that this isn’t some random woman leaving the bar and her mouth drops open. Somehow Lena knows _Andrea Rojas;_ SAG, Golden Globe, and Emmy winning actress. Kara catches Lena’s eye over Andrea’s shoulder and mouths her surprise at the brunette.

“You look great babe,” Andrea says warmly, “that shirt looks amazing on you.”

“Thank you, Sam took me shopping on Monday.” Lena says as the two separate, but Andrea stays in Lena’s space; gently stroking her bicep. 

“Can I get you a drink?” Andrea asks her, still not taking her eyes off Lena, and at that moment Kara decides to make her presence known. 

“Hi Ms. Rojas,” Kara says holding out her hand, “I’m Kara.”

“Oh.” Andrea finally turns to Kara, and levels her with a look that could curdle milk. It’s like all the warmth has been sucked from the California air and Kara tries not to fidget uncomfortably under the drastic shift in atmosphere. “Lena who is this?”

“Uh, I’m-”

“Is there a reason why you’re still here? Aside from breathing in all the good oxygen?” Andrea asks, eyes like brown chips of ice.

Kara blinks, looking from Lena to Andrea in bafflement before Andrea lets out a loud, twinkling laugh. “Oh, you should’ve seen your face!” she giggles, and Kara stares at Lena in utter bewilderment before Andrea collects herself. “If Lena likes you, then you must be lovely. It’s nice to meet you Kara.” Andrea leans in for a hug, and Kara opens her arms on instinct. 

Andrea wraps her in a tight hug and Kara has a split second to recover from that bizarre interaction before Andrea turns her head and whispers in her ear. “ _Never,_ speak to me again.” She hisses, before disengaging with a bright smile. 

“Well I’ll see you around Lena!” Andrea says, and looks at Kara with a bright smile and sharp eyes. “It was so nice to meet you Kara!” Before she departs, leaving a small cloud of rose scented perfume behind. 

“Um,” Kara starts, turning back to Lena and broadcasting her confusion to the other woman. “What just happened?”

Lena laughs, the sound rich and lovely in Kara’s ears, “Andrea’s just like that.” She says breezily, “you get used to it after a while.”

“Uh-huh,” Kara takes a much larger gulp of her beer, “So, how do you know her?”

“We hooked up in college.” Lena says matter-of-fact, and Kara very nearly sprays the metal table with beer. Of all the things she had thought Lena was going to say, that certainly wasn’t what she had in mind. Unbidden, another thought pops into her head: _have no idea how someone like Andrea could’ve pulled someone as great as you._ The thought snakes its way into her brain and Kara shakes her head to clear it.

“Oh. Well- I mean that’s-” Kara fumbles for a response, knowing full well that her face is turning redder and redder the longer she stutters, while Lena looks on with growing amusement. Frankly, Kara has no idea what to do with the information that just been dropped on her lap unceremoniously so she gives up forming a response and just stares at Lena openmouthed. 

Lena meets her eyes and lets their gazes linger for a couple seconds more before her lips twitch and she lets out a laugh. Kara snaps her mouth closed as Lena giggles into her drink; God, if she can just keep Lena laughing like that then she can count tonight as a complete success. Lena wipes at her eyes, her laughter subsiding.

“I’m kidding Kara.” Lena sighs, “Andrea and I are old friends. We’ve known each other since boarding school.”

Kara blinks at Lena, not quite understanding how this woman has managed to so thoroughly sweep her feet out from under her like this. “Oh wow. That’s- that’s cool.” At that point, a waiter brings over an order of truffle fries that Kara had asked for, and she digs in with gusto, momentarily forgetting that a Hollywood starlet had looked at her like she wanted her dead. 

Lena and Kara spend the rest of the time talking and Kara finds herself sinking into the conversation easily. Lena reveals to her that she came to National City after leaving her job in Metropolis for “greener pastures” when her previous job became too stressful. Kara can immediately tell that it’s a sore subject, judging by how Lena’s bright eyes get more downcast as she talks. 

Kara isn’t stupid, she has a pretty good idea of why Lena _Luthor_ would want to leave Metropolis. But she wasn’t foolish enough to bring that up now, especially with how nice her night is going. So, she switches the conversation to safer waters. Kara tells Lena about her life in Midvale, and what it was like getting adopted at thirteen. 

“I knew you were adopted,” Lena says, taking a few fries for herself. “It’s one of the things we have in common.” Kara’s eyes widen, surprised at the admission. 

“You’re adopted too?” Kara was familiar with the Luthor family, but the fact that Lena was adopted hadn’t come up in any of the articles she’d read about them. 

Lena nods, taking another sip of her soda. “My parents wanted that little tidbit kept out of the papers, probably because it made them look good to adopt a ‘poor, Irish orphan.’” Lena says the last part sarcastically, and Kara chuckles at the funny voice Lena does. 

Kara catches Lena’s eye and grins, “For the record,” she says, “that’s the plot of _Annie._ ”

Lena gasps in mock outrage, and Kara tips her head back and lets out a full bellied laugh at her wide-eyed expression. “How dare you Danvers.”

“Oh, it’s okay Lena,” Kara reaches over and pats her hand, and gives Lena her most innocent smile before opening her mouth and sings, _“The sun’ll come out, tomorrow…”_

Lena throws a French fry at her face in retaliation.

They end up ordering dinner (a Niçoise salad for Lena and a French dip for Kara), and sticking around for another two and a half hours, chatting. They had talked about everything; from their taste in music (turns out Lena is a huge Rammstein fan), to sports, to favorite animals, to high school crushes. It actually comes as a surprise to Kara that the sun starts going down in the distance, the shades of orange and blue reflecting off the surface of the river. They had been bantering back and forth so easily that Kara hadn’t noticed where the time went. When the waiter comes back with the bill and Lenas’ credit card (she had insisted on paying), Kara finds that she’s a little disappointed.

“Wow, thank you Lena. You didn’t have to do that.” Kara says standing up, brushing errant crumbs off her lap.

“Nonsense,” Lena brushes her comment off, “I wanted too. I’m trying to sell you on National City remember?” She teases, and Kara finds herself smiling again. “But you should know that I’m not done with you yet.”

Kara’s eyes widen, “wait what?”

“The night is young Kara.” Lena picks up her purse and takes two steps away from the table before turning and raising her a single eyebrow at Kara’s surprised face. “We’ve got other sights to see.” 

//

“Other sights to see” turns out to mean a secret beach down by the suburbs.

Kara is extremely skeptical of the whole endeavor, but after some cajoling Lena convinces her to slip through the gate with a ‘NO TRESPASSING’ sign, (“this is a public beach Kara, the residents are just bitter and stingy and try to keep people from using it”), and they make their way down the concrete stairs. Once they hit the bottom, Lena pulls of her painful looking heels, and marches the rest of the way down the beach. Kara stares after her for a split second before scrambling to take off her slip-ons and follow.

Kara fully expects Lena to just stop at the edge of the water and just push her toes in the sand. Instead she walks into the surf, letting the cool water of the ocean run over her toes and ankles.

Kara cuffs the bottom of each pant leg before joining her, standing to Lena’s right and taking in the sounds of the water. Kara had spent part of her childhood playing in this ocean, diving into the waves in the hopes that maybe the cool water would wash away the sting of losing her parents at thirteen. It hadn’t, but it was a comfort all the same. 

At night when she couldn’t sleep the sound of the waves crashing against the shoreline had kept her sane in the quiet of her shared bedroom with Alex. She had surfed the white caps after school when she was frustrated and needed a place to vent her anger. In college, when she got homesick, she would drive up, and spend the night sitting on one of the wooden chairs Eliza keeps and stare at the stars until she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. It relaxed her, made her feel that if no one understood how she felt, then she could come to the beach and let herself feel the same vehemence that the ocean felt.

Hearing and feeling the water now had the same effect, and Kara wondered why she had stayed away so long.

“This is one of my favorite places to go in the whole city.” Lena says quietly, “no one’s ever here, and the sky always looks so pretty.”

Kara looks up and notes that the sky is a clear inky-black, with bright stars sprinkling its surface like glitter. Kara knows that there are many more stars than this, and that because of the light pollution you can’t see the constellations, but it is a much better view than Metropolis. “It’s beautiful.”

Lena nods beside her, “I come here to think sometimes, when it all gets to be too much.” She turns to Kara, “it’s like I have my own personal oasis to recharge in.” Then she casts Kara another dimpled smile, “plus there’s no cell reception here so no one can bother me.”

Kara chuckles, shoving her left hand into her pants pocket before asking: “do you take all your recruits up here?”

Lena frowns in contemplation “Actually,” she says, “you’re the first person I’ve ever brought here.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Wow,” Kara breathes, “thanks for sharing your oasis with me.”

“Sure,” Lena says, and then she adds, “if you tell anyone about this I will make sure you’ll wish you were never born.”

Kara whips her head around to find Lena glaring at her with the anger of a thousand suns, before she softens into a smile. _Good Lord,_ Kara thinks, _the amount of emotional whiplash ive experienced today because of this woman should be criminal._ Before she can think of a response, Lena is peeling away and marching back to the stairs.

“Come on Danvers.” She calls behind her, “we’ve got one last stop.”

“But I’m just getting comfy-”

“I know, that’s why we have to keep moving.” Lena’s smile is impish as Kara reluctantly trudges her way back to her. “One last stop before we’re finished here.”

//

Lena makes Kara thoroughly brush off her feet and ankles before letting her back into her car. Then all too soon, they’re peeling away from Lena’s secret beach and back towards downtown. Kara and Lena make more small talk, (turns out Lena isn’t a huge fan of sweets but she loves chocolate) before Kara realizes how familiar her surroundings are. She gasps, and presses her face against the passenger side window.

“Oh, my god this is right outside the NCU campus!” Kara practically yells, and Lena laughs next to her. She smoothly parallel parks her Cadillac and Kara jumps out, excited to be back in her old stomping grounds.

“You seem excited.” Lena comments, another small smile on her face, before motioning for Kara to follow her down the block.

“Well this street has seen me do many dumb things,” Kara says cheerily, “I’m pretty sure I climbed that lamp after my first frat party.”

Lena laughs, “well I hope that’s not something you try to recreate tonight.”

Kara bumps her shoulder gently as they walk, grinning. “I make no promises.”

Eventually Lena leads her into an industrial looking building with an exposed brick exterior that Kara is all too familiar with. The two of them make their way up a flight of stairs to the second floor, and emerge into a large space; the main floor is taken up by tables and chairs, and on the far side of the room sits a large bar with floor to ceiling mirrors set up behind it. On the left side of the room there’s a stage, complete with footlights and a deep red curtain.

“For our last stop you took me to New 52?” Kara asks bemused. New 52 was a former black box-theater-turned-bar that catered to all the young undergraduates at NCU, as well as the post-college hipsters who live nearby. Kara had dragged her friends here on more than one occasion to hang out and drink until she couldn’t see straight. She had no idea why Lena would bring her here after a seven-year absence.

“Have you been here since college?” Lena asks, her eyes sparkling with knowingly, and once again Kara is struck momentarily dumb by her.

“Uh- no. No I haven’t.”

“Well then,” Lena says coyly, “you’re in for a show.”

“What do you mea-” suddenly the light blink off and Kara only has a second to begin to panic before she hears the sounds of a guitar and the tapping of a cymbal. Suddenly the lights blink on again and the red curtains, the same curtains that have never opened once during her whole college career, swing open to reveal four girls in flannels. The lead is wearing a cowboy hat.

_“When I wake up, well I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you, when I go out, yeah I know I'm gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who goes along with you,”_ the cowboy-hat-wearing-redhead sings, and Kara feels her face split into a massive grin.

“You’re supposed to sing along when they get to the chorus,” Lena says in her ear, her own smiling face staring back at Kara. Lena really had done her research, there’s nothing Kara quite loves more than singing.

Kara leans back, raises her voice so that she can be heard over the piano. “This place never used to use the stage.”

Lena shrugs, “must be under new management.” She says, and then adds, “every night after 9 is a free for all. If you’ve got talent and want to perform, then you have to beat the rush to sign up.” 

Kara ponders this for a second before asking, “do people get paid to do this?”

“As far as I’m aware, no.” Lena says, “they just do it for fun and because they can. Sometimes they get up there and sing serenades to their sweethearts.” Lena smiles ruefully, “I’ve never had someone do that for me, but it looks very sweet.” Kara feels something in her twinge at Lena’s faraway look but declines to say anything.

 _“But I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man walks a thousand miles, to fall down at your door,”_ the group sings, and Kara joins in with an enthusiastic ‘DA DA DA DA!’ as they play through the song. Lena laughs at her, clapping along to the beat.

After the song ends, the quartet is met with thunderous applause, and Kara lets out a whoop of her own in support. She and Lena stay for a couple more songs, (most of them good, but some of them are abysmal) before they exit New 52. Lena is laughing at a stupid joke that Kara made on their way out and Kara knows, right then and there, that she’s definitely lost this fight. And she’s totally okay with it.

“I’m in.” she says, watching as Lena’s laughter tapers off, and her eyes begin to widen in understanding.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Kara says smiling like a dope, “you sold me.”

Kara watches as Lenas surprise morphs into the most beautiful smile, her green eyes practically sparkling with excitement. “Oh, my god, Kara!” Lena yelps, “that’s amazing! You’re going to crush it!”

“Thanks.” Kara nods, still smiling like a dope, and falls into step with the brunette, “you’re really good at your job, you know that?”

Lena’s smile turns coy (and maybe even a little sultry) and says, “oh Kara,” her voice low and smooth, “I _know._ ”


	2. Why don't you come with me, girl on a magic carpet ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter fully ran away with my I s2g. One minute i thought I had a handle on things and then i had 11k words on my hands. Anyway, i'm obligated to point out that this is where it gets a little spicy ;)
> 
> Chapter title taken from Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf

After her trip, Kara has a whirlwind couple of weeks in Metropolis.

She sends in her letter of resignation and her coworker Martha cries when she shares the news the team, so she feels kind of bad. She then agonizes over all the things she has to shove into boxes, and the things she has to hire movers for until eventually, she calls her friends for help. Winn and Mike come over and help her pack up her small apartment in Midtown until all her living space is tucked neatly away into cardboard boxes. It all feels like it’s moving so quickly now, after how long she spent hesitating over this decision, and now it’s like she’s gone from 0-60.

It all becomes real on her second to last day. Her office throws her a surprise going away party, complete with punch, cool ranch doritos, and a large banner that says “Break a leg Kara!” It’s all very sweet, and a nice little moment that wraps up of her time at Kelex. 

Then Winn and Mike drag her out for a night on the town, citing that they need to have one last hurrah before Kara leaves them forever.

Winn is about three drinks in before he starts crying.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving me!” He wails, “we have so many more Mario Kart tournaments to race!”

“Winn, dude, you’re spilling your rum and coke.” Mike supplies helpfully, while double fisting two beers. Despite their constant antics, Kara was going to miss the boys; Winn was one of the first friends she made at NCU and Mike had transferred in sophomore year. Once James was added to the mix, the four of them had become an inseparable quartet until graduation, where the three of them moved out east.

And now Kara was heading back to the west coast for a new job and, while she feels bad leaving them, she’s excited about this new chapter. Winn and Mike will be just fine.

They spend another hour at the bar before transferring back to Kara’s boxed up apartment, sitting on a couple towels now that that couch is gone. It’s around 3am when they all burst into fresh tears one after the other. “I’m gonna miss you guys.” She croaks as Winn wipes his tear stained faced on Kara’s sweater and Mike pretends there isn’t snot running down his nose.

The next day is the day of her flight, and when it arrives Kara feels both anxious and excited. She says goodbye to her friends one last time before hopping an Uber and getting to the airport.

Once Kara arrives in National City, the sun has already gone down and the street lamps are on. She muscles her large bags into the elevator and up to her floor and when Kara walks into her apartment for the first time (technically the second time but potato-potahtoe), she takes a deep breath. 

She and Alex had viewed the place together weeks ago, and they both loved it. It was a spacious one-bedroom apartment, with an entire wall of exposed brick that Kara could hang her paintings on. There was a finished kitchen with countertops made of recycled wood, complete with a new fridge, dishwasher, microwave and inexplicably, a wine cooler. There was a carpeted living room with her sectional couch and two armchairs that sat in front of the large windows overlooking the city. From here she could see the lights of downtown sparkling in the night as well as the sunset over the ocean.

It was a little overwhelming, staring out into her new space and knowing that this was home now for the foreseeable future.

Once Kara dropped her suitcases into her bedroom, she moves back to the living room where she finally notices it. It’s a gift basket, neatly wrapped in gray tissue paper. She pulls the paper apart to reveal a bunch of _Dean & Deluca_ snacks including but not limited to, cheesy popcorn, gummy bears, and chocolate covered peanuts. On the outside of the gift basket is a note. Kara picks it up and pulls it out of its’ small envelope.

_Kara,_

_Welcome back to National City! I hope you feel at home here as you did in college!_

_Warm regards,  
Lena_

Kara grins at the small note, endeared by the whole gift. She tucks it into a spare drawer, just for safe keeping, and then makes a running jump at her bed. She lands with an ‘oof’ on the soft mattress and knows deep down that she definitely made the right decision.

//

“-so, all I ask is that you give me some time to gain your trust. I know that I’m new to this, but what I lack in experience I make up for in awful puns.” Her new team laughs at that, and Kara feels herself relax just a little bit more. She was nervous for her first day, and had rehearsed this speech in front of the mirror a dozen times last night so that she wouldn’t get flustered. So far, she’s doing okay; for the most part everyone here seemed pretty nice, and all Kara needed to do now was show them that she was competent at her job. “My door is always open if you need anything. Literally, anything. I love to help, whenever I can.”

He short speech is met with a spattering of applause and Kara preens a little bit. Once the crowd disperses a couple of writers come up and shake her hand and introduce themselves, including Nia.

“Hi Ms. Danvers,” she says, with a wide grin. Nia is practically vibrating with excitement and Kara wonders just how much coffee she’s had. “I’m Nia Nal, the sports editor. Well- you know that already I guess. I was just coming over to formally introduce myself you know?”

Kara gets the sense that when it comes to rambling Nia could give her a run for her money. “Nia.” She shakes the other girls hand, “nice to meet you. I love your hockey articles. You can call me Kara by the way.”

Nia flushes and nods, “oh sure! I mean I didn’t want to overstep and make it weird cause it’s your first day and you’re my boss and I definitely _didn’t_ want-” 

“Nia.” Kara begins gently, giving her a reassuring smile “Breathe.”

She does what Kara asks and takes a deep breath. “Right, right. Sorry, force of habit.” Kara turns to leave but Nia barrels on, “you should come to one of the games I write about! They’re so fun and!” Nia leans forward conspiratorially, “the nachos at Lord Stadium are actually pretty good.”

Kara perks up at that, “One thing you should know about me is that I am _always_ down for nachos. Let me know when the next game is.” 

“Great! Also, hey, I wanted to get your opinion on the font for my next piece.” She hands Kara a draft, and she looks down at the printed words in confusion. “I was thinking Helvetica but I could also be persuaded to use Courier New.”

“Um,” Kara starts, “uh, let your heart decide?” She says, and Nia blinks at her before a sly grin takes over her face. 

She gives Kara a friendly pat on the shoulder and says, “I’ll get right on it boss.” And then walks off with a salute.

Kara stares at the space Nia left behind for a second before wandering back to her office. She has some more organizing to do before lunch and maybe a couple ideas to sketch out before then.

//

It’s bordering on lunch time when Lena knocks on Kara’s door.

The blonde is sitting behind her new desk, laptop open and forehead crinkled in thought as she types. She looks up at the sound and her face splits into a friendly smile.

“Lena!” She stands and Lena gets only a second to admire the fit of Kara’s chinos on her long legs before the blonde is wrapping her into a firm hug. Normally, Lena isn’t a big fan of physical contact, but Kara is so warm and solid in her arms that she actually leans into it.

She’s only mildly disappointed when Kara pulls away.

“Hi Kara.” She says, “I see you’re already hard at work.”

Kara smiles, “yeah, I’ve definitely got some organizing to do. But-” Kara reaches for the remote for the TV screen in her office and flips it on, showing Lena her computer desktop. “Check this out.”

She presses play on the remote and a window pops up. On screen are four women who look very familiar to Lena until the first few notes of _I Would Walk (500 miles)_ by The Proclaimers starts playing and Lena realizes just what she’s seeing. Somehow, Kara’s managed to put together a short, rough commercial for CatCo’s channel, using the quartet they saw play weeks ago.

“Kara,” Lena breathes, “this is amazing! I knew I found the right girl for the job.”

Kara blushes, the tips of her ears turning red, before she brushes the comment off with a wave of her hand. “I just found the groups contact info and asked them to submit a video. We’re working with them to make an actual commercial.” 

“That’s great Kara.” Lena says, and for once she really means it. There’s just something about this woman that’s just _warm._ Lena doesn’t know what to do with herself; it’s like she’s sitting in the sun whenever Kara so much as smiles in her direction. Part of her wants to lean into that warmth, but she came here for work reasons, not to fawn over CatCo’s latest hire. 

She opens her purse and pulls out the thick stack of papers that she sets down on the table in front of them. “Here’s your contract. Just sign there, and I’ll be out of your hair.”

Kara sits down, motioning for Lena to follow suit, and slides the contract over to herself. She has a pen in hand when she hesitates, that same crinkle forming between her brows again. “A year-long contract, huh?”

“Yes,” Lena begins, “is there a problem with that?”

Kara shakes her head, “No, not at all.” She says, “it’s just weird you know? Like, how do I _really_ know this is going to work out.” 

“Well,” Lena hums, “I suppose you don’t.” She cocks her head to the side and catches Kara’s gaze, and finds those same sky-blue eyes staring back at her. “But you won’t know unless you take a chance, now will you?”

Kara holds her gaze, her eyes flicking between Lena’s before the tension seems to bleed out of her. She signs the contract with a small flourish, and slides the documents back to Lena. She takes the stack of papers and puts them back in her purse.

“It was nice doing business with you Kara Danvers.” Lena says, turning to leave, her mind beginning to wander through possible lunch spots before Kara calls to her.

“Do you wanna get lunch?” She asks, and Lena turns around in surprise. Kara is standing beside one of her guest seats, hands in her pockets, looking at her with hopeful eyes.

“You want to get lunch with me?” Lena asks, and immediately she wants to smack herself. The last thing she wanted to do was sound like some insecure middle schooler in front of this woman, but it seems her mouth ran away from her brain. She reasons that Kara is probably going to let her walk out without much debate but-

“Of course.” She says earnestly, “you’re one of the few friends I have here in the city right now.” Kara scratches the back of her head, flushing a little as she does so, “unless you’ve got other plans then-”

“I don’t.” Lena cuts in, suddenly unable to say no to this woman. “I’m free for lunch.”

Kara’s face splits into another sunny smile, and Lena warms at the look. “Awesome.” She says as she grabs her blazer and wallet from her desk, “I know I haven’t been back here in a while, but I think I know a place.”

//

The place that Kara takes her too, is a nice café called Noonans.

Kara holds the door open for her as they walk in and as they wait to be seated, Kara walks her over to the glass cases holding all the pastries. When she spots the caramel eclairs, she lets out a small ‘yes!’ of excitement. 

They’re seated at a small table by the window, and handed their menus. Kara is grinning the whole time, listing off her favorite food items and telling Lena all about the new additions to the menu.

“-and the grilled chicken panini is really good, but doesn’t hold a candle to the pesto and mozzarella…” She trails off when Lena smiles at her, and Kara looks up a little sheepishly. “Sorry, I ramble sometimes.”

“I can see that.” Lena hums, “you recommend the pesto sandwich?”

Kara grins, “definitely.”

//

“How have you been adjusting to National City so far?” Lena asks, taking a bite of her sandwich.

Kara hums in between bites of her Bolognese, and says “good. It sucked leaving my friends but honestly? I do like being back here.” Lena nods as Kara shoves another bite into her mouth, “plus I can see my sister and my nephew more often so that’s a _huge_ bonus.”

“How old is your nephew?”

“He’s six. According to Alex, he loves magic now.” She grins as she says it, and picks up her phone. She swipes through it before turning the screen to Lena, revealing a little boy with brown skin, curly dark hair, and a gap-toothed smile. In the photo, he’s dressed in an oversized tuxedo, holding up a top hat and a wand.

“He’s adorable Kara.” Lena says matching Kara’s smile, and the blonde looks both proud and pleased with Lena’s assessment. As Kara is pulling her arm away her phone starts vibrating with an incoming call. Lena can just make out the name ‘Siobhan’ before Kara makes a face and declines the call.

“Sorry,” she says, “that was my ex.”

“Oh,” Lena laughs, “I’m sorry.”

Kara waves her away, “don’t be. It was for the best anyways; she was a little mean and has an obsession with John Mayer.”

Lena frowns, “didn’t he date Taylor Swift when she was a teenager?”

“ _Yes,_ ” Kara yelps, “everyone seems to forget that!” She shoves another bite of pasta into her mouth. “Anyways, she said I was too ‘emotionally constipated’ and she dumped me on the spot.”

Normally, Lena would just nod and smile, letting the other person dominate the conversation without revealing too many personal details. It was much easier that way, but with Kara she feels a sudden and intense kinship with the blonde and finds herself speaking.

“She said you were emotionally constipated?” When Kara nods, Lena continues, “my ex said I was emotionally damaged.”

Kara winces, “ouch.”

“I know.” She shrugs, “I guess we’re in the same boat.”

Kara huffs a laugh, and takes a sip of water. “Yeah well, I’m done with relationships for a little bit.” 

Lena grunts in agreement, “me too. I’m just going to relax on my own.”

The blonde nods and when she leans back and the sunlight catches her blonde hair and Lena is momentarily struck dumb by how the light plays off Kara’s handsome features. “From now on I’m just gonna go to pound town.”

Lena very nearly chokes on her next bite of food, and raises an eyebrow at the blonde once she’s recovered. “Pound town?”

“Yeah? It means to like- eat a bunch of pound cake?”

“…sure Kara.”

Their conversation shifts to safer waters, and as they talk the two of them start to relax into it. Kara is a very good conversationalist; never speaking over Lena or interrupting her, while also keeping the energy flowing. Kara tells Lena the story about how she and her sister tried to do the lift from _Dirty Dancing_ and broke their mom’s coffee table that causes Lena laugh so hard she almost chokes on a fry. 

The interaction is both strange and welcome. Lena makes a point to not interact with clients beyond her job, but this is a refreshing change of pace. Not for a lack of trying of course; there have been a couple hires who messaged her about getting dinner or drinks once she was done working with them, but she never took them up on the offer. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what they wanted: to cash in on the Luthor connection. Her family might be disgraced in the business world, but they still had invaluable contacts in fortune 500 companies. She also knew that they probably also wanted to sleep with her, just for the novelty of it, and that wasn’t something she was keen on entertaining. 

But Kara Danvers didn’t ask, or even act like she cared about Lena’s family or connections. Right now, what seemed to matter more to Kara Danvers was if Lena preferred Rachel McAdams in _Mean Girls_ or _The Notebook._

“I thought _The Notebook_ was cheesy.” Lena shrugs, and picks up a couple sweet potato fries. “And I’ve never seen _Mean Girls_ so I can’t make a fair judgement.”

Kara’s eyes widen, “you’ve never seen _Mean Girls?!_ ”

“No? But since we’re on this subject I also haven’t seen _10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless,_ or _I Love You, I Love New York._ ” Kara’s mouth is hanging open by the time Lena finishes and she laughs at the blondes’ incredulity. “Oh, come on! _None_ of those movies are very good anyways.”

“Untrue, they’re all amazing.” Lena raises a single eyebrow at her and Kara relents, “okay _I Love You, I Love New York_ is terrible, but it’s a rite of passage to watch it at a sleepover!” Kara digs into her pasta with renewed vigor, “we should watch it together.” She says absentmindedly, and Lena’s eyes widen.

Kara notices the look on her face and swallows, “I mean if that’s something you want to do of course.”

Lena has had enough experiences in life to know that this probably comes with a caveat. With the exception of three people, Lena hasn’t exactly had a lot of people she can call true friends. And Kara’s excitement and earnestness makes her a little nervous, after all people can always hide their true intentions behind a kind smile. But despite all that she likes spending time with Kara, and maybe it would be nice to see her again. 

“I’ll come as long as you have a good merlot in your fridge.” Is all she says, and Kara beams at her.

//

Lena shows up at Kara’s apartment at exactly 8:30pm on Friday. She didn’t want to assume how casual the night would be but she also didn’t want to look too homey with a woman she met a month ago. She hoped that the burgundy sweater and black jeans would suffice.

When Kara opens the door, she’s wearing her glasses, and she’s got on an NCU sweatshirt. She beams when she sees Lena and envelopes her in another warm hug before ushering her inside. She looks comfortable, and Lena wonders what it would feel like if she snuggled up against her before she shakes the thought away. 

Kara’s apartment is lovely; there’s exposed brick on one side with shelves of books and baubles that Kara’s collected over the years and three large paintings hung next to the windows. To her left is a fully stocked kitchen, complete with an island and several wooden bar stools lined up next to each other. Just beyond that is a living room with a large brown couch and two worn looking red chairs, all sitting across from a large TV. Pictures hang on pretty much every wall, showing scenes from Kara’s life, from high school to now. 

It’s all very cute.

Her eyes flick over to a painting hanging on the brick wall, and she moves toward it. It’s a scenic piece; a long golden field stretches over the foreground with a two-story farmhouse in the back. There’s a small green copse of trees off to the side, and the sky is dotted with several fluffy white clouds. The whole piece looks tremendously peaceful, and so loving painted that Lena just barely restrains herself from touching it.

“I love this.” Lena says to Kara, who’s in the middle of opening a bottle of wine. “Wherever did you get it?”

“Um, actually I made that.” Lena whirls around to find a sheepish looking Kara holding a glass of wine out to her. 

“You made this?” Lena can’t hide the incredulousness in her tone and Kara blushes.

“Yeah, it’s of my cousin’s farm in Kansas.”

“Kara, this is gorgeous,” blue eyes snap to hers and Kara’s face turns even redder, and more bashful. “Seriously, this is lovely.”

“I- wow, thank you.” 

Lena finally takes her glass of wine from the blushing blonde, and nudges her playfully. “I didn’t know you could do this by the way,” she takes a sip of her wine, and hums in contentment. “And you got merlot? You’re just the perfect host, aren’t you?”

Kara is as red as a tomato by this point, “well- I mean- I don’t know much about wines so I got the guy at the wine store to help me out.” She reaches over and holds up a bottle, and Lena nods at the label.

“The wine guy has good taste then.” She says, and Kara beams, her cheeks still pink, and Lena moves into the living room and sits down. The furniture looks worn, the pillows a little frayed, and it’s all so lived in, so _homey,_ it makes Lena feel a little out of her depth. Kara’s only just moved back to National City and already her apartment looks so much more lived in than Lena’s.

“So,” Kara plops down next to Lena on the couch, setting her wine glass and a large bowl of microwave popcorn down on the coffee table. “Tonight, I was thinking we could watch _Mean Girls_ and maybe _Heathers_ afterward.” She grabs a handful of popcorn, shoves it in her mouth, and fixes Lena with a challenging look. “That is, if you’re up for a two-for-one movie night?”

Lena narrows her eyes at the blonde, feeling her sense of competitiveness rear its head. “Bring it on Danvers.”

// 

“Frankly, it doesn’t really make sense for Rachel McAdams to play a high schooler. She’s clearly in her mid-twenties.”

“Of all the things happening, that’s what you choose to focus on?”

“I’m just saying!”

//

“Kara, no one would’ve survived getting hit by a bus going that fast.”

“Lena…”

“Her neck would have been broken for sure.” Lena crosses her arms, “not to mention the internal bleeding and ruptured organs.”

“Wow, you’re such a nerd.”

“I am _not._ ”

“You are! You’re a huge nerd cause you’re taking _Mean Girls_ seriously.”

“Shut up Kara.”

//

Kara gets up and refills their glasses and the popcorn bowl once the credits roll. She comes back with more wine and more snacks, and drops back onto the couch with a whump. Over the course of the night and after several glasses of wine, Kara has lost some of her coordination and Lena isn’t faring much better. She’s finally relaxed enough to lean into the couch, feeling warm and loose in the comfort of the apartment. 

“Hey.” Kara’s head has lolled to the side, and she’s looking at Lena with a hooded gaze that’s sending a pleasant warmth down to her stomach. “I don’t know if I can make it through _Heathers._ ”

Lena chuckles, “Oh really? You need to tap out Danvers?”

The blonde blinks at her before her eyes narrow, lighting up with the challenge. “I never tap out.”

“Well then,” Lena smirks, “queue up the next movie then.”

For all of Lena’s talk, she’s the one who passes out thirty minutes into the movie. Kara’s apartment is so _warm,_ and her couch is so comfortable that Lena closes her eyes for what she _swears_ is a second, and when she opens them the credits are rolling and Kara is looking at her in amusement. 

“If you can’t walk the walk then don’t talk the talk, Luthor.” Kara grins at her own joke and Lena is just cognizant enough to roll her eyes.

“Whatever,” she stands and stretches, groaning when her joints pop. When she looks back at Kara, the blonde is giving her an unreadable look, her eyes trained somewhere around Lena’s midsection. But when Lena clears her throat Kara shakes her head, and stands.

“I should probably head out.” Lena says, and when she checks her phone she balks when she reads that it’s 1am. “I don’t want to take up anymore of your time.”

“You’re not taking up my time.” Kara yawns as she says it, and her nose scrunches adorably. “I like spending time with you.”

Lena takes a deep breath and bites her lip to keep herself from blurting something stupid out, and instead helps Kara tidy up her living room, bringing their glasses to the kitchen. She still feels the grogginess from earlier and wonders if Kara would be averse to her spending the night on her couch, but immediately dismisses the idea. No matter how nice the blonde is, Lena still doesn’t know her all that well; not only that but she really doesn’t want to come off as needy to her new friend. 

Kara asks her multiple times if she’s alright to go home and Lena, touched by the concern, promises to text her as soon as she gets to her apartment. At the door, Kara pulls her into another hug.

“Would you want to do this again?” Kara asks her quietly, and Lena finds herself nodding before she even thinks about a response. “Okay,” Kara pulls away and gives Lena another one of those small smiles, “I’ll see you later then.”

Lena gives Kara’s hand another squeeze as she drifts into the hallway, “see you later, Kara.”

//

A couple weeks go by and Kara sees Lena more and more with each passing day. 

They keep running into each other at Noonan’s. Kara used to frequent the café all throughout college and since they haven’t stopped making her favorite caramel eclairs, she no reason to stay away now. But lately it seems like Lena is also there, buying coffee or a salad to go for lunch or dinner and Kara always says hi. In fact, they see each other at Noonan’s enough that it feels like they have standing lunch plans every Monday and Wednesday. 

Kara likes sitting down with Lena and hearing vague details about her clients and people she’s hired to find, and Kara likes telling Lena all about her ideas for CatCo and getting her opinion on formatting. Surprisingly, Lena is very knowledgeable about marketing and offers Kara advice about what stories to highlight. It’s also nice to hear from someone who doesn’t work with her, because Lena is always polite, but she never minces her words.

“So, do you think men care more about global warming, or how to wear white pants to a cookout?” Kara asks her over coffee, and Lena raises an eyebrow in a way that always leaves Kara a little tongue tied.

“Depends,” she says, “do you have a beautiful woman in a bikini standing on an icecap?”

“No.” Kara frowns, “she’s standing on a ski slope.” 

Lena laughs, full and warm and Kara finds herself smiling at the sound. “Go with pants to a cookout.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Kara sighs and fiddles with the watch on her wrist. She knows that she’s going to be late getting back to the office if she lingers, but she also doesn’t want to stop talking to Lena. 

Just as she’s making her decision Lena speaks, “So, I’m having friends over this Friday and I was wondering if you wanted to come over?” She bites her lip as she says it, her shoulders tense as she waits for Kara’s response. It’s a far cry from Lena’s usual cool confidence and Kara has half a mind to think that Lena is nervous about asking her to come over. 

Kara reaches over and places her hand over Lena’s on the table, “I’d love to.”

//

“Lena, whenever is this new friend of yours going to show up?” Jack whines from Lena’s kitchen island. He’s perched on one of her kitchen stools, and has draped his whole torso onto the counter to reach for the carrot sticks. “I want to finally beat Jess on the Rainbow road.”

Lena rolls her eyes, “like you have a chance at beating Jess.”

Jack scoffs and Sam, who is opening another bottle of wine, snorts derisively. “The day Jackie beats Jess at _Mario Kart_ is truly the indicator of the end of the world.” Sam gets the bottle of Miraval open with a small pop, “but I’m pretty excited to meet this girl. I mean, befriending a former client? The _scandal_ of it all.”

Lena rolls her eyes and pushes over a bowl of pita chips and accompanying hummus. “Her name is Kara, and she’s already lived here, but I thought it’d be nice to introduce her to more people.”

“So, you’re gonna show her to these clowns?” Jess asks distractedly from the couch. She’s already commandeered Lena’s switch (a gift from Jack) and is halfway through a round of _Smash Bros._ Lena loves Jess, mostly because she’s unerringly straightforward about pretty much everything and is fiercely protective over the people she cares about, which no one would suspect with how she’s twisted herself into a pretzel on Lena’s couch.

“I hope you warned her about them.” Jess is grinning as her Yoshi smacks around Snake with a hammer.

Jack makes an affronted noise, clutches his chest, “First of all, I don’t know how you can play seated like and second,” he pauses for dramatic effect, “ouch, my _feelings_ Jessie.” His eyes sparkle with mirth, and Sam rolls her eyes. 

“God, you’re dramatic” Sam says, popping a chip into her mouth.

“And water is wet.” Jack and Lena say at the same time, and Jess crows with victory as Yoshi kicks Snake off the stage. 

Jack looks at her and winks, “jinx, you owe me a shot.”

The doorbell rings just as Lena opens her mouth to respond, and instead she rolls her eyes and flips him off. When she first asked Kara to come over, she was nervous; Kara had this bright and bubbly personality that made Lena feel like she was out of her depth. There were a couple moments where she waited for the other shoe to drop, where Kara would pretend to not know her or brush her off; it wouldn’t be the first time, with the fall of LuthorCorp, but it never happened. Instead the blonde had answered her reserved air with kindness and attentiveness that she wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of. Kara always had a genuine smile whenever she saw Lena, and always took the time to talk to her, to ask about her day, to buy her a coffee if they both had the time. And Lena felt that it might be nice to let someone else in for a change.

In fact, she literally needed to let Kara in since she was standing right outside her door.

Lena swung the door open and Kara was there, one hand tucked under a nice bottle of wine, and her face breaking into a happy smile. She was dressed nicely; in a blue button down that matched her eyes, and tight black jeans that may as well have been painted on. Lena smiles, and hides how dry her mouth has gotten. 

“Hey Lena!” Kara immediately pulled her into a one-armed hug, pressing a hand between her shoulder blades before pulling away.

“Hey Kara,” Lena took the wine before motioning Kara inside. The blonde immediately toes off her shoes and shucks off her jacket, and follows Lena toward the kitchen. 

“Guys, this is Kara. She moved here from Metropolis-”

“And she’s the reason you can afford all this Glenlivet!” Jack yells from his barstool, and Sam swats him on the arm even though she’s smiling too. Lena groans but Kara laughs right along with them and nudges Lena playfully in the shoulder.

Kara gets on splendidly with Lena’s friends; she manages to keep up with Jacks banter, and Sam’s sarcastic commentary. She ends up having a long discussion with Jack about his research in nanotechnology before cooing over pictures of Sam’s daughter Ruby. In fact, she gets along so well with Sam that Lena starts to get concerned over the possibility of her most embarrassing stories being revealed as the night goes on. 

At one point Kara challenges Jess to several, enthusiastic rounds of _Smash Bros,_ and Jess smiles with what is probably her third most evil smile. Her triumph is short-lived however, when she realizes that Kara is actually good at the game.

“Did you- you just beat me?!” Jess’s eyes are wide as saucers, and Lena laughs into her glass of whiskey. Kara only gives her a smug grin in response and Jess’s eyes narrow into a glare that could rival Lena’s, “oh, it’s _on._ ”

Jack laughs, kicks his feet up, and takes a sip from his beer, “personally, my money is on Kara, purely because Jess needs to be knocked down a peg. No offense, babe.” 

Jess shoots him a glare from her perch on the couch, “go to hell Jack.”

Kara wins two more rounds and Jack hollers at them the entire time. From her seat at the end of the couch, Lena watches Kara, takes in the focus of her blue eyes, her large hands, and her tongue that’s just peeking out of her lips. It’s only when Lena wonders how long Kara’s fingers actually are does she decide to switch to water and maybe focus on something that isn’t Kara Danvers. By the end of their impromptu tournament Kara has won five matches in comparison to Jess’s two, the latter of whom throws her hands up in defeat and declares she needs a drink. 

The rest of the night is spent in the kind of controlled chaos that Lena has come to associate with her friends. 

Jess switches out _Smash Bros_ for _Mario Kart_ and screams obscenities at Lena for taking first place almost every round. She’s delighted to find out that although Kara might dominate at fighting games she’s abysmal at driving, and Lena laps her three separate times. 

Once he’s on his fifth drink of the night, Jack starts waxing poetic about his and Lena’s shared time at Cambridge. He tells the story about the time he and Lena got so drunk that they went to Tesco and egged the Vice-Chancellors car while Sam and Kara roar with laughter. Lena retaliates and recounts the time where they skipped class to go to a Slipknot concert in London, and Jack was so disoriented after the whole thing that she basically had to carry him back to the station.

Around 1am, everyone is starting to drift; Sam is blinking a lot to keep herself awake and Jack is yawning through his argument with Jess over fish and chips when Lena notices that Kara has fallen asleep. She’s passed out on her armchair with her beer dangling precariously from her fingers, glasses askew, and looking so peaceful that Lena feels remiss that she has to wake her up. Her arms and legs twitch while she dozes, and Lena can’t help but find the image of it incredibly charming. 

Eventually Sam wakes Kara up, after fending off Jacks attempts to draw dicks on her face with a sharpie, and she shuffles out the door sleepily, promising to text Lena when she gets home. Even with one foot out the door she still reaches for Lena, and wraps her in a warm hug before sauntering off, leaving Lena feeling like something is growing.

//

They keep hanging out; whether it’s going to little get-togethers at an apartment, or meeting for drinks at a bar, or even going for walks in the park, Kara and Lena are spending more of their time with each other than either of them thought they ever would. And even when they’re not together, they’re always texting. Kara sends Lena ten different pictures of puppies that she saw last week saying “it’s time for more puptures!” and Lena smiles every time. 

Once while she’s waiting for another client to leave the airport terminal, she spots the new CatCo commercial on one of the TVs near baggage claim, and sends Kara a picture of the screen in excitement. She gets back several lines of heart emojis. A couple days later, Kara sends her a selfie of her and Jake Ramirez, a lawyer who she also recruited for CatCo who now works for their legal team. They’re both making finger guns at the camera and smiling, and Lena crops the picture and saves it as Kara’s contact info.

Part of Lena finds it a little strange, how quickly their friendship seemed to take off, but she’s certainly not complaining, though she is a little confused. The rest of the world aren’t the biggest fans of the Luthor family and if Kara truly wants to stick around, then Lena certainly isn’t going to stop her.

She feels that way now, sitting across from Kara and watching her polish off a whole plate of potato skins.

“You know, I wasn’t expecting all this after I met you.” When Kara gives her a confused look she explains, “I mean, I didn’t anticipate you wanting to spend time with me.”

Kara polishes off the last of the potatoes with a sigh and a happy pat to her stomach, and cocks her head to the side. “Why not? You’re super nice.”

Lena blushes, “Not everyone thinks that.”

“But you are!” Kara leans forward and starts counting off her fingers, “you’re super nice, really smart, really funny, like stupid pretty-” Lena’s blush deepens at that, “and you’re basically my best friend.”

That gives her some pause. They really haven’t known each other that long, surely Kara is confused.

“Isn’t Winn your best friend?” Lena says weakly, trying to master the emotions that seem to be running wild inside her chest. 

Kara just smiles, and shakes her head. “I love Winn and I talk to him all the time, but he’s not you.” Her voice is so earnest when she says it that Lena softens just a little bit, “I can’t talk to him about everything like I can with you.”

She really doesn’t know how to respond to that. Lena feels like she’s about to panic, or maybe burst into tears, both of which are utterly untenable. 

Instead Lena clears her throat, “you’re my best friend too.” Her voice still comes out as a croak and Kara doesn’t comment on it, instead she reaches across the table and takes Lena’s hand, and squeezes her fingers. 

Sure, it’s strange to have struck up a relationship with Kara so easily and so quickly but it’s nice, and it’s new. Whether she wanted it or not, her friendship with Kara has suddenly grown into this lovely, flowering thing that she didn’t know she needed. 

//

Eventually spring rolls into summer with the month of June, bringing with it summer breezes and more sun than anyone knows what to do with. So, Kara asked to come over and Lena assured her that she didn’t have any plans that night. What Kara didn’t tell Lena was that she had a master plan to get her best friend to watch another romcom, and she finally managed to talk her into it after her third glass of wine. 

Which is why Lena is staring at her flat screen incredulously as Madison cups Bryce’s face and says _it’s not adding up to a hundred anymore_ with a straight face.

“Jesus Christ.” Lena winces, as Bryce blubbers on screen. She did warn Lena about I Love You, I Love New York, and how bad the movie was. So, not her fault Lena didn’t heed her warning. 

Kara just chuckles, and takes another sip of beer. “I know.”

 _‘Looks like Metropolis is all out of blueberries.’_ Bryce says, and Lena frowns.

“What does that even mean?” She turns to Kara, and she laughs at Lenas’ confusion.

“I have no idea.”

“You’re from Metropolis.”

“ _You’re_ from Metropolis, I just lived there for seven years.” Kara snarks, “I think the writers just kinda gave up halfway through.” Lena hums, and takes another sip of wine. 

As the orchestral music swells, Kara realizes that they’ve reached the part of the movie where the two love interests break up and the film dedicates several minutes to a montage of sadness where the leads are miserable without each other. It honestly kind of annoys her. This movie is catastrophically bad but it’s clear that the leads are meant to be together, so why do they refuse to admit it? It shouldn’t be this complicated. 

“I think one of the worst parts of the movie is the music.” Kara says, taking another pull from her beer.

Lena raises an eyebrow at her, “why? Because it’s constantly telling you how to feel?”

“Yup.” Kara says, finally turning to look at her and notes that Lena’s eyes look like a dark forest in the low light of her apartment, “it’s silly. You’ve got the slow melodic sounds for when someone is heartbroken,” Kara starts humming a sad tune, “and then it switches to ‘oh, im getting married to the man of my dreams!’” Her tone changes to a happy trill that ends on a high note. “Or, it’s like ‘im sneaking through an office’” and Kara starts scatting a mildly suspenseful tune that has Lena laughing into her wine.

They watch the last half hour of the film either booing or groaning at the TV. Bryce chases Madison down at Grand Station in downtown Metropolis and tearfully confesses his true feelings, while describing all of her quirky personality traits. Lena rolls her eyes during the whole speech. 

The two of them watch as Bryce kisses Madison to the sound of the soft piano music and Kara finishes her beer.

“This movie was set in Metropolis?” Lena asks her and when Kara hums in assent and she catches the brunettes eye roll. “Then why is it so obviously filmed in National City?”

Kara shrugs in response, “Dunno.” Kara turns and Lena cocks her head, her features softening further in the light of the TV. “Maybe they didn’t have the budget.” She hears herself saying, caught in the greenery of Lena’s gaze.

The pop music overlaid with the end credits starts to play, and Kara settles into the comfortable silence that follows. Lena is unlike a lot of her friends in that she doesn’t mind the quiet, and Kara has found she can sit with her for hours without saying a word and nothing about it is awkward. Oftentimes, Kara finds herself overwhelmed in the city and around a lot of talking and loud noises; so, she treasures the moments she can just sit with Lena and exist. Being with her is calming and unexpected in a lot of ways that Kara wouldn’t have anticipated, but it’s also really lovely.

Eventually though, Lena speaks. “We’ve already talked about this but- do you ever miss it?”

Kara frowns, “miss what?”

“Relationships.” Lena says, “like- don’t you miss being in one from time to time?”

Kara shrugs at the question, “I mean I guess? They’re fun and stuff but- I don’t know- they get messy pretty fast.”

Lena hums, “I suppose, it’s just- maybe I just miss the perks.” At Kara’s look of confusion Lena clarifies: “I miss sex, Kara.”

Kara very nearly spits out the last of her beer, but Lena keeps talking. “Sometimes you just need it, you know? Like, cracking your knuckles or getting a back massage.”

Kara coughs, and clears the rest of the beer out of her throat, “Yeah, but I mean couldn’t you ‘scratch your itch’ on a dating app? Like Tinder?” Kara suggests, and Lena shakes her head.

“I don’t really like hookups.” Lena says, dragging her finger around the rim of her wine glass. “I prefer to know the other person before I have sex with them.”

Kara nods, knowing exactly how Lena feels. While it might be simpler to chat someone up at a bar and bring them home or message someone on an app, it just felt weird. Kara had never been interested in hookups and still wasn’t a fan of them now. 

“But I mean- I suppose hookups are easier.” Lena continues, “Relationships come with so much- _emotion._ ”

“And guilt,” Kara adds without thinking and Lena groans.

“ _Ugh_ \- guilt is the _worst._ ” 

She mulls over what Lena’s said and Kara _definitely_ gets it. She always liked it when she had someone to touch or kiss, but historically those same people have also gotten on Kara’s nerves. Sure, she liked a lot of the people she dated, but there was always an inevitable moment when the relationship soured because she wasn’t saying, doing, or being enough. It often felt like her partners were begging her for something she couldn’t give, and it was _always_ a problem. If she thought about it, having sex without the pressure of a relationship sounded like a dream; a perfect scenario where everyone wins, and no one loses. 

Kara leans forward, setting her beer bottle on the coffee table and facing Lena. “I mean- like- two people should be able to have sex like they’re playing tennis.” She says, and Lena looks at her skeptically. “I mean it’s a physical act, it shouldn’t be any different from doing a sport.”

Lena cocks an eyebrow at her, “tennis?”

“Yeah, like-” Kara mimes hitting a ball with a tennis racket, “It’s a game, right? You finish, shake hands, and get on with your day.”

Lena hums. “I agree,” she untucks her legs and sets her wine glass down next to Kara’s beer bottle. “It’s certainly less convoluted.”

Kara nods, and feels even more relaxed than before. It was strange, how warm and understood she feels when she talks to Lena. It’s like the other woman hears the words she doesn’t know how to say before she says them, like some sort of telepath. When she’s with Lena, Kara feels so relaxed she could float.

Then, Lena turns to her and asks, “do you want another beer?” and when Kara hum in the affirmative, Lena gets up, but not before bending over and picking up their many take out boxes from the coffee table. Kara suddenly gets an unobstructed view of Lena’s shapely ass in her soft jeans and the calm warmth she felt a second ago is gone, replaced with a different kind of warmth.

Lena takes the many boxes into her large kitchen, and Kara watches her the whole time. It was no secret that Lena was beautiful, devastatingly so, and in Kara’s expert opinion, Lena has probably the nicest hips that Kara has ever seen. She can imagine curling her fingers around, sliding them down and _squeezing-_

“Hey Lena? Let’s play tennis.”

“What?”

Kara hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but now that she’s said it she knows that she wants it. “Let’s have sex like we’re playing tennis.” 

Lena freezes for a split second, before turning around and giving Kara a droll look. “Be serious Kara.” She says, and Kara surges up from the couch and walks into the kitchen with quick strides.

“I _am,_ ” she insists, “this could be great! This could take all the weirdness out of sex!” She’s standing in front of Lena now, and the brunette is giving her an unimpressed look.

“But Kara we’re just _friends,_ ” she emphasizes the word, raising her eyebrow in a now familiar incredulous look.

“I know that, which is why it’s _perfect._ ” She can feel herself smiling as she talks, “we’re already buddies so no complications or guilt!”

Lena scoffs, “have you even considered that I might not find you attractive?”

“Oh.” Kara didn’t think of that. “Well do you not find me attractive then?”

Lena scoffs, “Of course, I do.” she says without thinking, and blushes bright red. Kara knows that her smile has turned smug and Lena, still blushing, rolls her eyes and says, “fine but, do you even find _me_ attractive?”

It takes Kara a second for the words to register, but when they do? She finds herself momentarily stunned by the question. Everything about Lena Luthor was attractive, from her face to her laugh to her sense of humor. Anyone who didn’t think she was attractive was probably blind and also maybe a moron.

“Lena, are you serious?”

“Yes.” Kara opens her mouth to retort but Lena holds up her finger in front of her lips, silencing her. “No, before you got to know me, did you find me attractive?” She asks as she crosses her arms, “physically speaking, what did you like about me.”

Kara blinks, still a little hung up on the insinuation that she wouldn’t find Lena freaking Luthor attractive before finding her voice again. “Like, when we were just strangers?”

“Yes. First time you met me.” Lena crosses her arms, waiting.

Kara ponders for a moment, thinking back to the first time she saw Lena at the airport. “I liked your eyes.” She says, remembering how their gazes met at the airport weeks ago, “they’re so intense and pretty that they just-,” she’s staring at them now, watching them widen in surprise, “they just _caught_ me.”

“Oh.” Lena blinks, clears her throat, “well I liked your shoulders. They’re nice and broad.”

“Thanks, I work out.” Kara’s answer is very tongue-in-cheek, and Lena smiles. “I liked your…” Kara realizes that she’s about to say ass and flounders for something less lascivious to say, “uh- your um- I liked your legs.” She finishes lamely, wincing at her inability to string words together.

Lena ignores Kara’s stuttering and says, “I liked your lips.” Her eyelashes flutter against her cheekbones as she talks and Kara is mesmerized, “I thought you might be a good kisser.”

Lena’s thought about kissing her? Lena thinks that she’s a good kisser? Kara fights a smile and Lena shoves her lightly with a roll of her eyes. “Cocky is so not a good look on you, Danvers.”

“I beg to differ,” Kara says, stepping forward again so that she’s only inches away from the brunette. She purposefully drops her eyes, letting her gaze sweep from Lena’s face and down, and when she looks back up Lena’s cheeks are flushed. 

“I liked your eyes too.” Lena says, crossing her arms. The action pushes her chest up and Kara eyes linger on her chest a beat too long then what would be considered appropriate.

“Yeah?” Kara can’t stop smiling, “I liked your boobs.” The words hang in the air between them before she realizes what she just said. “I _meant-_ uh- I meant your- _um-_ ” 

“Butt.” Lena arches an eyebrow, juts her chin out, and her eyes flash in challenge. _Oh,_ Kara thinks, _well if we’re being honest._

“Hips.”

“Hands.”

“Jaw.”

“Neck.”

“Eyes.”

“You said that already.” Lena points out and Kara shrugs.

“I meant it.” Kara feels herself blush, but she doesn’t take it back either. Not with Lena looking at her with those same pale green irises that remind her so intimately of the green rivers and cool grass. The tension between them suddenly becomes coiled and thick, as if both of them are waiting for the other shoe to drop. She can hear her heartbeat in her ears the longer she looks at the brunette, and it’s only when her gaze drops down to Lena’s lips does the other woman say anything.

“You swear you don’t want anything more from me other than sex?” She asks, and Kara shakes her head to clear it. 

“I only want your friendship, I swear.” Kara says, “you swear you don’t want anything from me other than sex?”

“I swear,” Lena nods, and then frowns, “wait, should we swear on a bible or something?”

“My Jewish upbringing would disagree.” Kara says in amusement and Lena flushes. 

“Right, sorry.” Her eyes find Kara again, and in them Kara can see some nervousness but mostly excitement. She holds out her right hand and raises her eyebrows; Kara takes the hint, and grasps Lena’s hand in her own.

“No relationship, no commitments, just sex. And whatever happens, we stay friends. Right?” It would be almost imperceptible to anyone else, but Kara can hear the slightest warble in Lena’s voice, a chink in her armor, where some of that insecurity shines through. Kara cups Lena’s hand in both of hers, and squeezes it in a way that she hopes is reassuring.

She finds Lena’s eyes again, “no matter what, we stay friends.”

The moment stretches out between them; Lena’s gaze roaming all over her face as her hands tighten around Kara’s fingers. Finally, Lena nods, smiles, and pulls away.

Kara wipes her hands on her jeans, “so, do we just start?”

“I think so.”

“Okay,” Kara reaches for Lena’s hips, “I’ll serve.”

Lena groans and puts a hand on her chest to stop her advance. “That’s enough of the tennis metaphors I think.” Her hand slides down until her palm finds Kara’s, “let’s go to the bedroom.”

//

Lena leads Kara into her bedroom, trying not to think too hard about the fact that she’s going to have sex with her best friend.

“My nipples are sensitive, I don’t like hickeys high on my neck, and if I knew this was going to happen I would have shaved this morning.” Lena says as she shucks off her sweater. She figures that if they’re going to do this then they should just go for it, and Lena doesn’t like to waste time. She starts on the button of her jeans and she hears Kara rush to follow her lead.

“Okay, noted.” The blonde says while taking off her own shirt, and when Lena has a full unobstructed view of Kara’s torso she freezes. Logically, she knew that Kara must have some muscle definition, Lena can feel the hardness of her body when they hug after all, but this is just ridiculous. Kara is built like a Greek statue; her abs are laddered down her stomach, with her oblique’s curving around her sides and forming a V over the waistband of her jeans. She’s also gloriously tanned from the California sun and it’s all suddenly _very_ distracting.

“Jesus Kara,” She breathes, her brain stuttering to a stop like a car with a faulty engine. Kara, reaching behind for her own bra strap, looks up in mild alarm.

“What? What’s wrong?” 

“Absolutely nothing.” Lena breathes, her eyes still glued to Kara’s muscles. A throat clears somewhere and Lena finds Kara’s amused blue eyes staring back at her.

“My eyes are up here you know.” Kara’s got a shit-eating grin on her face and Lena knows she’s still blushing but rolls her eyes anyway. “But if we’re sharing, my chin is ticklish, my ears are sensitive, and if I knew this was happening I _also_ would’ve shaved this morning.”

Lena hums in acknowledgement and shucks off her jeans. Her bra is next, and it’s when she’s working her panties down her legs that she hears Kara make a choking noise. She looks up at the blonde who’s staring at her, mouth hanging open and her eyes trained on her chest.

“Are- are those-”

“Piercings?” Lena finishes for her, and Kara nods dumbly. She smirks, kicking her underwear off and away, and straightens, puffs out her chest a little. “I had a bit of a rebellious streak in high school.” 

She watches in real time as Kara’s pupils dilate, her blue eyes darkening to a look that Lena can only describe as _hungry._ Kara pulls off her briefs and in a matter of seconds she’s on Lena, big hands curling around her hips and tugging her forward. 

When Kara kisses her, Lena realizes her lips are as soft as they look. She also notes that the blonde tastes like beer and cheetos, but with Kara’s tongue sliding across her lower lip she’s absolutely not complaining. Kara’s kisses are thorough and a little messy; Lena melts into her, her hands sliding up Kara’s shoulders. 

Kara groans, and Lena takes the opportunity to slip her tongue into her mouth. She greedily licks against Kara’s lips and the blonde palms her ass more firmly, and pushes her onto the bed. Lena lands with a small “oof” and then Kara is climbing on top of her, slipping between her bent legs, and her brain all but short circuits.

Kara nuzzles against her jaw, dragging her lips down Lena’s throat, and she arches into the feeling. “I can’t believe we’re doing this-” Lena’s words taper off into a sigh when Kara traces her tongue along her pulse.

“Should we stop?” She breathes near Lena’s ear, her hands pressing into her sides. 

Kara has started to roll her hips forward into a slow grind, and it really has been awhile cause the movement is _absolutely_ doing it for Lena. “We can just go for a run.” It takes a little bit of time for Kara’s suggestion to register in her distracted brain, but when it does, Lena snorts. 

“I hate running.” Lena sighs, rolling her hips back into Kara, who moans at the contact. “But maybe- I mean- aren’t we getting too old for this?”

Kara makes a disgruntled noise around Lena’s collarbone, “What, sex?”

“ _No,_ I mean casual sex.” Kara hums and moves downward, mouthing against the side of Lena’s right breast. “It feels- a little college-y I guess- _oh_ ” Kara’s mouth has found her nipple, and she’s lavishing the pink bud with attention, rolling the metal balls on each end between her teeth. Lena squirms as the blonde drags her teeth along sensitive skin, before pulling it into her mouth and sucking.

Lena’s hands fly up and dig into the blonde’s shoulders, rolling her hips more firmly into Kara’s as she tongues at her breasts. There’s heat spreading through her limbs from the top of her head to between her legs, and Kara only stokes the flames when one hand comes up to flick her other nipple. It feels so wonderful to have someone pressing her into the mattress again, to have someone focused on making her feel good. 

“I could sing some Third Eye Blind?” Kara inquires, her mouth partially muffled by Lena’s breast. “It would make it _super_ college-y.”

Of course, Kara has to interrupt it and say something stupid. 

“Oh, my god, Kara-”

“ _Closing time, one last call for alcohol, so finish your whiskey or beer-_ ” Kara starts singing into Lena’s chest and despite the timing of it, Lena finds herself laughing. She tugs on Kara’s hair and hauls her back up for a kiss, purposefully rolling her hips again.

“Kara,” Lena bites at Kara’s bottom lip and she groans, “that’s not Third Eye Blind.”

The blonde rears up, and blinks down at her, mildly affronted. “Um, yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.” Lena tugs her back down, kisses her, tugging at her hips as she does so. Kara grinds down again, her hands slipping down Lena’s chest, over her stomach, and between her thighs. 

As soon as Kara’s fingers slip through her labia, Lena groans loudly. It’s then that she realizes how easily this could become weird; as sure as Kara had been about there being no complications, it was bound to happen when two friends have sex. As Kara has finds her clit and starts rubbing circles around it, Lena only becomes more aware of how ridiculous the situation is by the fact that Kara is _still_ humming the song.

She tugs meaningfully on blonde hair again, and Kara meets her gaze again, “we’re only doing this once.” If they only fuck once, then they can prevent any further weirdness unfolding, right? This doesn’t mean anything, and by getting it out of their system they’re being very responsible.

Kara nods, “I totally agree.”

“Great.”

“Good. Now-” Kara leans back down, captures Lena’s other nipple in her mouth as her fingers slip around Lena’s labia. Lena moans, and reaches down, fitting two of Kara’s wide fingers against her entrance and pushes; Kara gets the message, and sinks inside to the second knuckle, and Lena arches into the feeling.

It’s fine, this is fine.

Kara starts thrusting her fingers, making sure to swipe at her clit with her thumb, and Lena closes her eyes against the feeling. Kara’s weight pressing her down, Kara’s fingers thrusting and curling inside her, Kara’s hot breath on her neck- it’s all so hot and so much all at once. Lena’s actually surprised when she comes, arching off the bed and gripping Kara’s shoulders like her life depends on it.

But Kara keeps going, thrusting her fingers even faster and nipping at her neck. “I bet you can take more,” she says into her ear, and Lena’s mouth drops open into a loud moan. 

“ _Oh-_ ” Lena gasps into her ear, tightening her legs around Kara’s waist. “ _Fuck- yes_ Kara, like that!” Kara sinks a third finger into her wet cunt and Lena throws her head back and shouts her approval. It’s like she’s somehow flipped a switch; gone is the polite, smiling blonde that she’s been acquainted with, and in her place a confident, sex goddess who is fucking her brains out right now.

Kara leans back down and recaptures one of Lena’s nipples with her mouth, and tugs on the metal with her teeth at the same time she curls her fingers into Lena’s g-spot and that does it. 

She sinks her teeth into Kara’s shoulder, letting out a low whine as she comes. The blonde keeps thrusting, helping her through the aftershocks until Lena’s hips stop moving and she relaxes into the bed with a sigh. She feels tingly all over, like an electrical current was just run through her entire body, and left a buzzing sensation in her skin. She blinks blearily at the ceiling, catching her breath, and Kara rolls onto her side, and beams down at her.

“Again?” she asks, and Lena is ready for her just like that.

//

Kara fucks her through another orgasm before Lena has to push her hand away with shaking fingers. Never before has someone gotten her off so quickly and with such devastating attentiveness. It drove the breath from her lungs. But the night was still young, and Lena had some energy left in her.

When she finally flips Kara onto her back, the blonde is looking up at her with wide, hungry eyes, and Lena knows that all she wants to do is take her into her mouth. So, she does just that.

“A little faster,” Kara breathes, hands tangled in Lena’s hair. 

Lena lashes her tongue against Kara’s clit, speeding up, and the blonde throws her head back and groans. Kara tasted both salty and sweet, and was so responsive to Lena’s tongue, and she felt that she could honestly stay here for hours. 

That thought is short lived, as Kara arches and rolls her hips into Lena’s face harshly. She comes with a quiet groan, almost bending in half at the waist, cradling the brunettes head to prevent herself from jostling Lena too much. Lena strokes along Kara’s thighs as she licks her through the aftershocks, grinding her own hips down onto the bed. 

Kara gave one more whimper before tugging at Lena’s hair again, and the brunette took the hint. She surged up Kara’s body, shifting so she was straddling the blonde and pressing her hands against Kara’s chest.

“Wow.” Kara blinked, her eyes a little glassy, and Lena feels a surge of pride warm her chest. “You’re really good at that.”

Lena hums, “thanks.” And leans against Kara, which turns out to be a problem. She can feel the hard planes of Kara’s stomach, can trace the tensed lines of muscle in her shoulders and she unconsciously rolls her hips into the hard body underneath her. Kara notices, her hands flexing at Lena’s thighs, and she watches as the blondes’ eyes go from glassy to focused and dark in a matter of seconds.

Kara’s lips curl into a mischievous smile and suddenly she’s being rolled onto her back again, only this time Kara is moving, straddling one of her legs so she can press her thigh right up against Lena’s cunt. As soon as her skin makes contact, all the air whistles out of Lena’s lungs.

“Did you think we’d end the night like this?” Kara questions, fingers digging into her ass as she rolls her hips forward.

“No,” Lena hisses, “but- _fuck-_ I’m glad we are.” She bends the leg trapped between Kara’s own, and connects to the wetness there. Kara groans into her neck, her rhythm stuttering for a second before continuing with vigor. This position never really did anything for Lena before, but with how Kara’s strong thigh pressed up against her and her breath in her ear, and her strong hands pulling her along thrust for thrust, Lena is well on her way to her fourth orgasm. 

Strangest of all is how casual this feels, how easy it all is. Surely, she should’ve hesitated more about fucking her best friend, right? But Kara is making some obscene noises in her neck that sounds like a combination of a growl and a whimper and Lena is lost in the feeling of it. In the feeling of hard muscle under her fingers and Kara’s warm weight pressing her down into the mattress.

“Say my name.” Kara says, her voice low and breathy.

Lena digs her fingers into Kara’s lower back, encouraging her, and says “Kara Zor-El Danvers.”

There’s a sound that comes out of Kara that’s a cross between a snort and a wheeze as she replies, “not my full name.”

“Sorry, I had to fill out a lot of your paperwor- _oh-_ ” Kara’s leg presses into her clit at just the right angle and Lena is cumming, gasping and shaking as she drags her nails down Kara’s back. 

Kara arches with a surprised yelp, and presses herself against Lena’s leg as she comes right after, shaking and moaning as she does so. They grind against each other, riding out the aftershocks of their shared pleasure before Kara collapses on top of her with a huff. 

For a while there’s quiet; they just lay there wrapped tightly around each other before Lena wiggles her hips and feels the wetness smeared over Kara’s thigh still. Arousal warms through her again, and sends a pleasant shiver down her spine as she pokes Kara in the shoulder. The blonde lifts her head and Lena meets that familiar blue eyed stare.

“So,” she says, letting her voice pitch low and sultry, “wanna go again?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: in the actual movie this fic is based on, the romcom I Love You, I Love New York is a fake movie that they actually filmed scenes for for Friends with Benefits. Jason Siegel and Rashida Jones do their best/worst acting for like two minutes. 
> 
> Also Idk what an art director for a magazine actually does aside from what google and the movie told me so if you see any inconsistencies no you didn't <3
> 
> I have no guarantees when the next chapter will be up cause it's gonna be a doozy for me to write so pls be patient with me, and thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think in the comments or on tumblr where you can find me at [shadehunters](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/shadehunters)


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